Wednesday, April 28, 2010

A Reader Profile: Survey Results!

I was having a bit of problem coming up with a "profile" post for BIP Bingo. Then I realized that just giving the results of the survey I did last week profiles you, my readers! Hey, that works, right? Well, I'm running with it, because after tomorrow's guest post, I will have managed every single one of the bingo posts, so I couldn't skip this one just because I was struggling a bit.

Thank you to everyone who took the survey! I had 83 responses. How cool is that! So here's what I learned:

Let's talk about our READING habits first:

The overwhelming majority of us (78%) spend 1 to 3 hours reading. 10% spend less than an hour, and 8% have a bit more time with 4 to 6 hours.

Most of us do our reading later in the day with 34% in the evening time and 27% in the night time. I know this was a hard question because when I answered it, I wanted to include both of these answers! I also sneak in a bit of afternoon reading... and lots of morning reading on the weekends. So I know for most of us it really varies.

I loved the results of this next question! It was an almost complete three way tie for how many books we read at a time, but focusing on only one book won out with 37%. Two at time came in at 26% and several at a time with 25%.

Most of you readers buy the books you read (43%) or get them from the library (28%). I know this was a hard question to pick just one, so I think nearly everyone who choose the "other" answer said it's a mixture of those too, which is totally true for me too.

So I wanted to know that when you actually find time to sit down and read, how long do you read for at one sitting. Most of us (57%) will read for at least 1/2 hour at time when reading. 22% said they can read for an hour or two at at time, and 11% for long hours at a time. Also, 11% can read for 15 minute chunks at a time. Sometimes I do this, but usually I find it's for at least 1/2 hour. Long hours at time rarely happen now and then on a lazy Sunday afternoon, or a read-a-thon! But that's about it!

The next couple of questions dealt with HOW we like to read. I learned I should have included another choice, because most of the "other" responders said "on my side!" (That was about 22% of you.) But most of you (37%) like to sit in a reclining chair, and 22% of you sit straight up. But when we get to the next question we learn that 42% of you do most of your reading in bed! The rest of you (27%) like the couch, and 24% like the chair.

Now let's learn about BLOGGING habits:

Just like reading half of us, about 53%, spend 1 to 3 hours blogging, and the other half (43%) less than an hour. No one answered either question for more time than that! Interesting.

As far as when during the day do you blog, we are all over the place. Morning was most popular with 35%, and evening with 25%. Some did say that they blog all day long (must be for short short time periods though!), about 16% of you. I end up doing lots of blogging time in the afternoon, but only 10% of you answered the same.

I liked seeing how all over the place we were also when it came to how long we've been at this blogging thing. The majority (25%) are "old" and have been at it for over three years. 19% , and 16% have been around for more than a year to 2 years or so. Then we have the newbies, 5% just started and 17% just in the last few months. Yey for newbies! Another 6% are just around their year bloggiversary. Congrats! :) And finally 11% are nearly to the 3 year mark and can join the ranks with us old timers. (Did I make the cut of for being "old" at this about the right time? I think there's really only a handful that's been going WAY longer than that, right? Let me know!)

Blogger is the big winner on blog hosting. No surprise there, right? 60% have Blogger blogs, with 18% using Wordpress, and 14% self hosting.

Do you schedule usually, or post right away? I wanted to know! We were nearly evenly split on this one too! 28% post right away, and 29% usually schedule, but sometimes post right away. 17% schedule for later and 25% usually post right away, but sometimes schedule for later (that's my answer!) Now we know!

55% of you (us) spend more than a few minutes on a post, but less than an hour. 28% spend at least an hour. And of course that varies a lot depending on what we are writing about. Many of you brought that up... it really depends doesn't it. This post for example, is taking me forever!

Okay, Twitter. Does everyone publicize their posts on Twitter? I usually do, but sometimes I think, ah, whatever, this is a dumb one and so who cares..... but what do YOU do? 30% of you do automatically but your posts on Twitter, and 16% do it manually (like me.) 23% of you are like me and only put it out there if you want to promote it, and 8% never do. 22% of you don't have a Twitter account... yet! :)

Pretty much everyone blogs from home with a laptop (48%) or on a desk top (36%). 10% answered that it's a mixture of everything! I do use a lap top sometimes at home, but usually it's at the desk.

Now about our numbers, do you know what they are? 77% said yes and 22% said no. Interesting. And along with that, I wanted to know where we all landed as far as subscriber numbers. A fourth (25%) have 100 something subscribers. 31% have a hundred or less. A couple of you have more than 1000. Whoa! Then everyone else, about 26% , have between 200 and 1000. That's quite the range there.

I wondered if subscriber numbers and how long you've been blogging correlated a little, but you know, it doesn't really. That's sort of all over the place too. Interesting.

And because I'm clueless on these things, I had people list what they used to track their numbers. Here's what I got: Google Analytics, Feed Burner, Sitemeter, Statcounters, Reader, Wordpress stats page, Google Friends and followers, etc.

Anyway, so that's about it. What do you think? Did you learn anything? Do you feel like you got a decent profile of the readers and bloggers that are around in this wonderful community of book bloggers?

That was really fun to read the results. I find I'm in the majority with most of these things (like reading in bed, only one book at a time, etc). The link to your spreadsheet didn't work (at least for me).

Great post! I love to see statistics like this. I am surprised by how varied all the answers were - I expected a few things to have a bigger majority. I am also shocked that most people do most of their reading in bed - my hands start to hurt if I do that for too long!

Fascinating results, Suey. I agree about the followers not equaling the time blogged... some blogs are new and have a ton, others (like me) have been around a while but only have a small, but steady and fairly loyal, following. Which is just fine.

Wow, what a ride. When an invisible barrier suddenly descends on this small town, how will the people handle things? Let's just say... not very well! Would it be giving away too much if I say... pretty much EVERYONE dies! And all written in...